


Roller Coasting

by itsabravenewworld



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-31
Updated: 2013-05-31
Packaged: 2017-12-13 11:58:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/824066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsabravenewworld/pseuds/itsabravenewworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“that moment of intimacy with the person who adjusts your seat belt on a roller coaster”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roller Coasting

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired suddenly by klaine. I actually have a little bit more of it that I wrote that I kept cut off because I wasn't sure if it should be continued. If you would like for me to add the little part on, then let me know! Thanks!

Kurt couldn’t breathe.

He was not able to breathe, the breath was gone from his lungs, stolen by a huge hunk of metal.

Except he obviously   _could_ breathe; he was still alive but he was clutching on to Rachel’s arm with a grip so tight and nails sharp enough to break skin, and he was still completely panicking.

The roller coaster was so big, and so high off of the ground, and looked so  _unstable_. Kurt gulped, and Rachel must have mistaken his utter distress for some form of excitement because she flashed him a grin and exclaimed, “Isn’t it great?” before looking up to Finn and squeezing his hand.

“Great,” Kurt parroted back, trying to swallow down most of his fear and look away from the pair. The problem with swallowing fear, though, is that the fear usually found its way back up and out, and with a vengeance. Which is why he blurted out “A really great deathtrap” and cringed when Rachel looked back to him, her eyes scanning his expression.

“Kurt?” She asked, concerned and gripped his hand in her own, releasing her hold on Finn. “I thought you liked roller coasters!” And Kurt fought the urge to laugh. It would have come out bitter because she’d never  _asked_ _,_  and Kurt came only for the little karaoke machine and games. He was fully prepared to opt out of actually going on the roller coasters by offering to hold everything they had with them, but the plan had been shot when Finn bought one of those storage lockers, insisting that he had so many rides to show him and he couldn’t just stay behind.

“No, I mean I do— I try to, I do.” Kurt explained, heaving a sigh. “I try so hard not to be scared, you know, and when I’m on the ride, nothing happens— I have fun, but it still doesn’t stop me from being so nervous beforehand. Because you can die on those things, it’s happened, a lot.” And he couldn’t seem to stop talking and waving his hands, which made him feel worse, like he was ruining their day by complaining. It was like he was digging a hole and kept going deeper as he freaked out further. “God, you’ve read the papers, you know that kid, the one that got his legs chopped off by a wire or gotten his head hit off like a baseball by a bar passing by or fell off-” and okay, maybe he’d never actually heard of the baseball one, but it was still possible, and it horrified him because he knew better.

It was a thing Kurt never really talked about, because only him and his dad knew about Kurt’s first roller coaster ride. He was still bullied in grade school, but to less of an extent. There was a particular, beefy child named Paul that would punch him in the bicep a little too hard to be considered friendly, and borrow all of Kurt’s lunch money claiming that he would pay him back.

His dad, assuming that they were friends, invited Paul to join them on a trip to the local carnival, and Kurt was too scared to say anything against it. Paul kept a grip on his shoulder a lot of the time, squeezing too hard so Kurt would convince Burt to buy them food, and then onto a spinning ride. Paul took the standing space next to him and hooked himself in. When the ride began moving, spinning to one side and swinging them up, around, Kurt squeezed his eyes shut and screamed, but he didn’t hear the loosening of the screws holding the bars in place that kept him secure.

Kurt heard Paul scream “STOP THE RIDE!” because he had apparently noticed before Kurt had, but it was too late because his bar had moved out of place and snapped up. He heard screams of the other passengers and saw their terrified faces, and his body was moving away before he could process. Before he could fly off though, Paul moved his hand to hold the bar on the other side of Kurt, his arm acting as a replacement support bar and keeping him in place. Kurt cried out in relief, holding on for dear life as the ride slowed and came to a stop. He ran, as soon as the door opened, into his dad’s waiting arms and having to be carried to their car. Paul never made fun of him again.

“I’m just nervous,” he tried to assure his step-brother and best friend as they watched him curiously. It wasn’t a lie, he wasn’t as scared as he used to be, but he was still paranoid that history might repeat itself.

“Kurt, if you don’t want to go, don’t go,” Rachel told him, her eyebrows crinkled, liked she sensed that there was more that Kurt was not telling her. “You can wait for us out there, it’s fine.”

Kurt knew she was trying to be comforting, but he just felt more frustrated. “No, see we’re almost on the ride already,” he commented, adjusting his black hat to cover more of the sun from his eyes. He was practically on the ride; he wouldn’t let himself ditch now, not when he was so close. He felt himself tugging at the straps of his sleeveless black shirt, feeling the start of sunburn on his shoulders from standing in the sun for so long.

“If you’re sure,” Rachel replied after hesitating for a second.

_Of course I’m not sure; I’m having a panic attack over here-_ “Yeah, don’t be silly, it’ll be fun, I’m sure. If we don’t die,” he chuckled slightly and even to his own ears it sounded much less than convincing. They traveled up the last stretch of the stairways leading into a small building. The separate lines for each row of the roller coaster were divided by iron bars, and the rows only held two people, Kurt noticed. Rachel and Finn were already racing to an empty row near the front, and Kurt sighed then moved into his own, empty row right behind. There were a few people ahead of him, so he waited until the next few rounds of people ran on and were shot off, gulping behind his hand that was suddenly in front of his mouth.

Kurt could only see two employees checking seat belts, one a tall lanky boy and a shorter head of curly hair was visible, but not a face. They moved quickly to check the seats, and Kurt was staring as the ride flipped upside down and the patrons screamed out in joy.

A joyful voice yelled out, “Again, I’m so sorry about the long wait! We’re shorthanded and it’s been so crazy! But enjoy the ride, try not to lose your shoes.”

Kurt wasn’t watching who was speaking, but chuckled to himself, like almost everyone else. He watched as the gears of the ride shifted, hauling the metal hunk forward quicker and quicker until they were gone.

The same voice spoke again and they said “Welcome back everyone! It was awesome, right?” His question was met by the excited screams of the people coming in from the ride, and Kurt breathed in as they were released. He was next.

After dropping his hat off on the side of the ride in a little bin, Kurt moved and sat  in his seat. The next group of people was a pair, most likely a couple, and they were waiting for the row to be empty, so he was alone. He fumbled with the straps that had to be buckled twice before his bars could go over his shoulders. He huffed, and froze when an employee walked over, said “can I help you with that?” and Kurt looked up- oh. It was the curly haired employee, and Kurt really wished he could have gotten a decent look earlier because he could look at him for ages- dark eyes framed by thick and obnoxiously long eyelashes, touching his cheek bones as he blinked- but he knew that the boy probably had to hurry to help the other riders.

But he wasn’t moving either, and he stood there for a second, his bicep holding the bar and clenching around it while the other employee yelled “don’t take your time, we’ve gotta go!” and he snapped into action.

“Hey,” he said, the corner of his mouth quirking, friendly, and Kurt lifted his arms so he could adjust the straps. Kurt was glad he seemed to know what he was doing because he was able to adjust the buckles perfectly while still staring straight into Kurt’s eyes.

“Hi,” Kurt squeaked out, looking down finally, hoping he wasn’t blushing.

“Are you nervous around roller coasters? I’m Blaine.” He was smiling in such a friendly and open way that Kurt felt the tension slipping away from his shoulders, which was probably the point.

“I’m Kurt. And I’m just not too fond of roller coasters is all.” Kurt watched as he bounced on his toes, moving minisculely closer with the movement, trying not to follow his mouth and failing.  He almost had forgotten about the coaster actually, but now the other employee had finished checking the other passengers and was yelling for Blaine to hurry up.

Blaine lifted his arms (Jesus, his muscles) and gripped the yellow bar over Kurt’s head, lowering it until it was up to his stomach, his fingers brushing against his shirt and stealing the breath from his lungs. “Well don’t worry,” Blaine said, leaning in to wink at him, “Now you’re extra safe.”

“Yeah, okay,” Kurt breathed out.

“Have fun, Kurt.” Blaine said, close enough to where he could close the gap— and then he was gone, hopping and grabbing the microphone from his friend with a grin that had Kurt glaring his way. “Okay everyone, sorry about that, I just got held up by something a little bit distracting,” he winked at Kurt and was elbowed by his friend. “You all have fun now!”

Kurt felt himself spin upside down, felt the twists and turns, and the air hitting his face and he wasn’t scared at all.

~

Stepping onto the other side after the ride, Kurt couldn’t see Blaine, just his tall friend fixing the next group of people for the ride. He sighed, almost forgetting his hat in the bin. He picked it up, and a paper fluttered out, Kurt grabbing it off the ground before the wind could carry it away.

  
_Kurt-_   


_I’m off at six. Meet me at the merry-go-round?_

_Blaine_

__

Kurt grinned, trying to find Blaine in the crowd of people in the lines, but when he couldn’t see him, he allowed Rachel to drag him away and down the stairs, demanding to read the note and giving him a dirty look when he crumpled it and stuck it in his pocket to hide it away.

“So, how was the ride?” Rachel asked him, swinging their hands back and forth and dancing under his arm.

  
“It was exciting.”


End file.
